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Sunday, August 23, 2009

Not so Easy

I haven't posted for a month now and not because I've been away or anything. I've been working on starting up a small home-based baking business, but I must say, it's not as easy as it may seem- in theory at least. I spent most of the summer baking and trying out recipes to see what works well, tastes good and is marketable. I decided to start on a very (very) small basis and, other than pass out the business cards I had made, I have done no formal advertising. With school back in session ( I teach Hebrew at the elementary school level) I thought that bringing some of my products to school would be a good boost. It would also let me know if I could manage working full time and bake on a larger scale at the same time. Like the title of this post says -"not so easy"! Sitting in the teacher's room trying to sell my stuff was too demeaning- just not my style. So for now, I will just be taking orders from those who know my work and like the results. This is a learning and soul-searching experience for me - baking is my passion and it is the thing I enjoy doing the most- I feel the best when I am doing it- so where does it fit in my life? Do I concentrate on the decorated cookies and cakes, or branch out into regular baked goods as well ( which is what I've been doing for the past few weeks)? Do I just let it remain as a passion and not try to earn money with it? I don't know at the moment, but I am on the journey to find out.

And.. in the meantime, I can' t post without telling you about at least one of the things I made recently. Unfortunately , I don't have a picture of it since I was so busy baking, I neglected to take photos of all my work- bright huh?!

This is a recipe for what we call in my family, "pecan cups". It is a recipe from a dear family friend, that has become a real tradition in our house. The recipe is written on a tattered index card, taped into an old recipe notebook of mine. For some reason, those are the recipes that seem to taste the best! I covered it with plastic wrap to preserve it since I can't bear to throw it away and rewrite it on a clean, new card.

Mix the filling ingredients together until smooth.
Form small ( approx. 1 in.) balls of dough and place in a mini- muffin pan. Using your fingers, press dough on bottom and sides of each cup.
Break up some pecans and place a few on the bottom of each dough cup, fill each with a scant teaspoon ( it puffs up ) of filling and then top with more pecans.
Bake for 20-25 mins. unitl lightly browned.
Cool on rack for 10 minutes then remove from pan. I serve them in mini cupcake papers.

4 comments:

If you are interested in learning more about home-based baking and the business of operating a home-based bakery please check out my website. I have been teaching home-based bakers and small food processors for years and would love to help in any way I can. Good luck to you.

Denay, Thank you so much for the offer. I live outside the U.S. so much of the information regarding licensing and health requirements are different for me, but some of the basic info I read on your site is helpful. Thanks very much!

Hi Yael, Thanks for your kind words today. I completely understand how hard it can be to keep up with your blog while Life happens. Good luck with starting up your business. I'll check back often to see how its going.~Allison